Chitauri
The Chitauri are a species of cybernetically enhanced aliens governed by a hive mind intelligence. The majority of the Chitauri comprise a large portion of Thanos's army, which has conquered a significant portion of space and formed an empire. History Creation The Chitauri were created long ago by an ancient being, crafted with specific warlike traits and their sentience generated by the Mind Stone. Formed as a collective Hive intelligence tied to the Mind Stone and relying on it for survival, the Chitarui army serves whoever wields it. One member of the Chitauri was slightly altered and positioned with a little higher intelligence, though was simply used as a puppet by the Mind Stone to communicate with its master. The Chitauri were used in a conquest by this ancient being, going out and dominating several planets. This earned the army a fearsome reputation. Chitauri Space Over time, the being ceased its conquering after a few star systems were taken over, and eventually abandoned the Chitauri on a barren world in this region of space. Left to their own devices, the Chitauri resorted to occasional raids on the nearby planets, who returned to independence and tried to fend off the raids when they occurred. The Chitauri kept the reputation they had earned long ago. Ultimately, this reputation made them known to Thanos and the Black Order, who came to the star systems searching for the Infinity Stones. It was believed by the local populations that the Chitauri were linked to an object of great power; Thanos believed this object to be one of the Infinity Stones, and set out with the Black Order to get it. Infinity Quest Thanos and the Black Order arrived on the Chitauri world, and were almost immediately attacked by the army. In spite of their ferocity, superior numbers, and technological advancements, the Chitauri could only hold them back for a short time before their defense was penetrated. One of the Black Order members, Supergiant, was able to trace the location of the object using her psionic power; though it caused her mental pain the closer she got to it, the fear of punishment for failure from Thanos kept her and the others going, managing to make it into the stone's chamber in the center of the planet. Suddenly, the Chitauri army ceased their attack. The stone's puppet, acting as an emissary of its will, congratulated the group for making it all the way to the chamber and offered the reward of leaving alive if they left Supergiant behind, for the stone desired to study her power. Refusing this offer, Thanos instead proclaimed that he would take the stone for his own purposes. Infuriated, the stone resumed the Chitauri's attack on the group, and after watching Supergiant's use of psionic power to defend herself began to lash out with its own mental power, filling the chamber with her screams. In addition, the stone let out a psychic attack that incapacitated the Black Order with visions of their past, but could only delay Thanos for a brief moment as his will was quite strong. In despiration, the stone gave him horrifying visions of the future, though he powered through them and managed to sieze the stone from its pedistal. As soon as the stone was taken, the Chitauri army ceased activity and went dormant. The emissary, freed from direct control from the Mind Stone, pledged his servitude to Thanos as thanks for his freedom and independence. He became a second hand to Thanos, and was named "The Other," acting as a speaker for Thanos. As for the Chitauri, the army would also serve Thanos, since he was the master of the Mind Stone. They became the primary component of his army, and would be used to dominate a wide area of space. To safeguard the Mind Stone, Thanos placed it within a scepter, allowing anyone that wielded it command over the army. Forging an Empire Once Thanos took over the Chitauri, he mass produced the army to enormous levels and set out to begin his search for the Infinity Stones. During this quest, Thanos used the Chitauri to pillage and conquer various worlds he came across, creating a large space empire to give him resources and information that he could eventually use to acquire the universal power he sought; this also allowed him to enact his method of mass death and destruction, eliminating portions of his conquered world's populations to keep them in check. Guided by the Other's direction and the knowledge claimed from various civilizations, Thanos earned himself a fearsome reputation across space, likewise causing the Chitauri to become feared as well. Traits/Characteristics Biology The Chitauri are large and powerful, standing seven feet tall and are more physically capable than humans, though only slightly so. Developed artificially, the race is genetically bred to fulfill their task with the highest efficiency and will stop at nothing to ensure they are completing said tasks. Technology The Chitauri are cybernetically augmented at a certain age to enhance their abilities, with neural networks, armor, and power cells grafted into their bodies. The Chitauri require recharging of their cells and chemical stimulants to remain alive; if they stray from the rest of their army for too long, an individual Chitauri is quickly killed by a nanovirus, which also has the effect of destroying their corpses to prevent enemies from gathering intelligence or technology off of their bodies. The Chitauri neural network links each member of the race to various hive ships, which act as conduits for the central hive mind. The central mind is a complex structure of unknown construction/growth that is empowered and linked to the Mind Stone. It is thought that only the strongest willed and most intelligent beings can command the Chitauri, as doing so requires dominion over the Infinity Stone which is impossible for weaker races to accomplish. The Chitauri employ various weapons and vehicles in their army which they use to great efficiency. These include energy guns, grappling hooks, anti-gravity hovering transport craft, and other equipment. Chitauri Army The majority of the Chitauri are part of a massive army loyal to the Mad Titan Thanos, commanded by him through use of the Chitauri Scepter. The army is well-organized and quite formidable, outfitted with advanced technology and conditioned to be fully loyal and entirely devoted to their cause. Command Centers Command Centers, also known as Motherships, are immensely large stations used to direct and coordinate Chitauri planetary invasions. Typically, only one Command Center is used to assault a single planet, though multiple Command Centers can be deployed to coordinate their forces against superior systems. Command Centers act as a node to the supreme center of the Chitauri Hive Mind, linking every soldier under its command to the Sanctuary. Given their massive size, importance to the army's ongoing deployment, and critical nature as a highly-valuable asset to the army, Command Centers are well-protected, outfitted with plenty of armor, weapons, patrolling craft and onboard security teams to ensure that the mental nodes deep within are safe from attack. Command Centers house the entirety of the armies they deploy for invasion, including Leviathans which are docked to large parts before and after the attack. Though capable of space travel, Command Centers can only achieve considerable speed when using FTL, rendering them incredibly slow in realspace. As such, they are left in orbit around a planet like a station, either over the target planet to directly oversee its troops deployments or further out in the stellar system for safety in distance; sometimes, a Command Center is deployed in interstellar space outside the star system for concealment as well as protection. Leviathans Leviathans are gargantuan beasts used by the Chitauri during large-scale assaults as both warships and assault crafts. Native to the asteroid system surrounding Sanctuary, the Leviathans are gifted with gravity flight, allowing them to move through space and planetary atmosphere with such ease that they appear to swim effortlessly. However, the gargantuan size of the Leviathans make them move slowly through either medium, and though they are able to make tight directional changes the Leviathans are not as nimble or evasive as smaller craft, making them somewhat easy targets. Even so, Leviathans are difficult to take down, having thick hides supported by large armored plating, as well as being mounted by several Chitauri soldiers armed with manned weapon emplacements as well as anchoring cables to tear down ships and disembark troops, and often escorted by various other Chitauri craft. Usually remaining at a distance for self-protection and to take maximum advantage of its ranged weapons, Leviathans are still capable of devastating structures and targets up close, using a combination of their gravity flight, armored fin blades, tremendous mass, and powerful crushing jaws and sharp teeth. On their way to deployment for invasion, Leviathans are docked to huge ports on Command Centers. When not invading a world, the Leviathans recuperate in colossal, labyrinthine nesting chambers in the depths of Thanos's Sanctuary, with a few on guard patrolling the perimeter of the Sanctuary. Chariots Chariots are flying anti-gravity craft that act as a mobile weapons platform and troop carrier. Resembling ancient chariots found on Earth, Chitauri Chariots only need to be operated by one pilot, though they are also crewed by additional personnel to operate the manned weapons on the Chariots. Each Chariot can also transport small groups of Chitauri soldiers directly into battle. Lightly armored and leaving its crew and passengers exposed, the Chariot's primary defense is its tremendous speed, able to zoom through space or atmosphere with considerable ease; however, they have poor handling at higher speeds, rendering them vulnerable when forced to make consecutive short turns. Soldiers The rank and file of the army, the Chitauri race makes up the entirety of the ground force, and can be seen fulfilling various roles. The majority of the army act as ground troops, engaging in direct infantry operations against defending military forces as well as capturing civilian targets or searching for and sabotaging vulnerabilities in a planet's defense system. All Chitauri are outfitted with protective armor and faceplates that proves resilient to most ballistics and solid melee weapons, though has several open spots to enable flexible movement for fast-paced attacks; soldiers are also armed with energy weapons such as arm cannons or bladed long-range rifles, as well as small-yield explosives. Gallery Chitauri 02.jpg|Chitauri Soldiers Chitauri 03.jpg|Chitauri Soldiers Chitauri 06.jpg|A Chitauri wearing faceplate protection Chitauri 07.jpg|The Chitauri Army proceeding to Invasion Trivia *Not to be confused with the Mad Titan's Mad Dogs. *Some Chitauri were gifted with sentient intelligence and deployed as field commanders.